Changing Radiator Fans - Nightmare!

[OliRose1994]

Hey, guys. 

I posted a little while back regarding putting the fans from a petrol 306 into my dirty diesel Pugrat. I went ahead and bought the fans (got them from a scrapyard so they weren't too expensive). Basically, the radiator fans aren't turning on when I'm in traffic or when I turn the A/C on. I have checked fuse 12 in the in-car box & fuses 02 and 03 under the hat - as per my Haynes bible. They're all fine - as are the relays for the fan speeds. I have removed the sensors from the thermostat, as someone said this will cause the fans to come on full-time - nothing there, either. I have come to the conclusion that the fans just need changing, unless anyone knows of any other checks I can perform.

So, today, I decides to have a crack at taking the front bumper off in order to swap the fans over. I have taken all of the screws underneath out, as well as the screws on the wheel-arch liners, and - after many serations appearing on my arms - the awkward 10mm and 13mm bolts inside the bumper (and the white rubber mounts have been loosened), but after trying the same on the driver's side, there was a white tank of some kind in the way - first nightmare! The bumper was still attached by some white plastic being attached to the black metal thing that has the air intake bit on it - not exactly sure what it is called - and I then started to take this off. Is it necessary to take the black metal thing off?

Also, is there any way to get past the white tank on the driver's side in order to remove the final bolts? Oh, and I hope it's easy to change the fans once the bumper is off!

Thanks for any help.

[Toms306]

You've taken off some unnecessary stuff tbh, the 13mm nuts are for the slam panel.

306 bumpers take 10 mins to remove, its just the 4x 10mm nuts to remove after removing the triangular pieces of lower arch liner. You can get a ratchet spanner or small ratchet up to the 10mm behind the screenwash bottle, no need to remove it.

[r3k1355]

Bumpers can be removed without opening the bonnet or even unlocking the car, so yea you've made abit more work for yourself there!

[rocker8742]

There's a guide in the guide section on how to remove one, you can get it off without removing the screen wash bottle


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[P-Courty]

i only took the grill off to get my fans out without the housing, seens as i'm now changing the rad i've removed rad and fan housing and going to replace fans for slimlines. Only time i've took the bumper off was to paint it while the car was having a bit of work done.

also did you try linking out the relays and tapping the top of the fans with a pair of wire cutters or something similar to aid them to start, generally find the weight of them over time makes them drop slightly and catch the housing, although you can't realy tell you soon find out when you tap them and they spring into life. If you see my thread you'll see all of the recent pics of testing them

[welshpug]

dont need to touch the bumper or grille.

oull the rad out, unplug and lift out fan cowling.

[Toms306]

Don't think there's enough space to get the fan cowling out that side with the AC rad? Will work on a non-AC car though.

[P-Courty]

I took mine out with ac rad still in, although i think it may be a good idea to take it out to put them back in. There is a saddle in the middle at the bottom holding the ac pipe in place, if that is undone you can move the ac rad enough to get the cowling out [emoji106] just something i learned from being lazy [emoji4]